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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Found Dead

I find the second week article reporting the death of Great Grandpa Hiram Smith to be somewhat odd in its wording. I have used this as the title of this post. It begins, "Hiram L. Smith was found dead in bed at the hospital in Carroll by a nurse at about 5 a.m. Tuesday morning". The next sentence is difficult to discern because of a wrinkle in the microfilm copy. It includes the words "broken leg" and " his surgeons on Monday". The rest is clear and reads, "Mr. Smith had apparently stood this operation well and was improving following it. A hospital nurse had given him a drink of water just a few minutes previous to the time he was found dead. The nurse saw no cause for alarm and he was supposed to be progressing as well as friends could hope. The news of the death of this good citizen spread a pall over the community. Although the accident which caused his death had occurred more than ten days previous, details of which were recorded in this paper last week, the home community, where he was best known, loved and respected, was in no way prepared for the schocking [sic] news which came early Tuesday morning. The surgeons had delayed the setting of his broken leg for fully ten days on account of a cold with which Mr. Smith was suffering. It is probable that during this period some insidious ailment was forming which finally reached the heart and brought about his sudden death. Mrs. Smith had spent all the time with him at the hospital and was sleeping in a guest room at the time of his death, not being permitted to remain with her husband during the night. He was nearly sixty-three years of age and leaves a widow and six children. Funeral services will be conducted from the Christian church in Scranton on Friday at 2:30 p.m. The Journal joins the entire community in extending the most heartfelt sympathy to his grief stricken family. Their inestimable loss seems to have peculiar sadness. The obituary of Mr. Smith will appear in these columns next week.Having known and loved Great Grandma Smith, my heart is sad to think of how hard this life event would have been for her.